M WAQAR..... "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --Albert Einstein !!! NEWS,ARTICLES,EDITORIALS,MUSIC... Ze chi pe mayeen yum da agha pukhtunistan de.....(Liberal,Progressive,Secular World.)''Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.'' تل ده وی پثتونستآن
Monday, February 3, 2014
Sochi Olympics to show Russia's new face

Chinese tourists eye Sochi for Winter Olympics

Syria committed to chemical disarmament, no need for 'political pressure' - Russian deputy FM

Cost of corruption across EU equals its annual budget - EU Commission

BAHRAIN BANS SHIA CLERICS’ COUNCIL

Pakistan: Rehman Malik says held four secret meetings with Taliban
Former interior minister and PPP leader Rehman Malik disclosed that he held four secret meetings with Taliban. Interacting with reporters outside the Parliament House, Malik said that Taliban should also have included their own representative in the committee. Taliban have divided the country into two parts by naming the negotiation committee, he added.
World's first paperless public library in US Bexar County, Texas
In the world’s first bookless public library in the US state of Texas, the rows-upon-rows of books that fill traditional libraries have been replaced with high-tech gadgets that cater to both adults and children.Instead of taking home books, registered residents of the south Texas county of Bexar - which has never had a public library or a bookstore - will be able to access over tens of thousands of titles from e-readers for free. Since September, the county's 1.7 million residents have been able to check out and take home the machines, as well as use their own devices to access the library’s catalogue. According to its website, the $1.5 million (£920,000) BiblioTech currently has 600 e-readers, 200 pre-loaded enhanced e-readers for children, and 48 computer stations, 10 laptops and 40 tablets to use on-site. It claims its mission is to give the county’s residents with “necessary tools to thrive as citizens of the 21st century” for the “purposes of enhancing education and literacy” and “promoting reading as recreation”. Laura Cole, special project coordinator at BiblioTech, told the Metro: “We wanted to create the best, most cost-effective way of providing library services to a population that is geographically distanced from existing services and a digital library was an obvious choice. “Geography doesn’t matter if your library is in the cloud,” she said, referring to the ‘cloud’ system where the library’s books are stored online. Addressing concerns that library users may be put off by technology, she said: “The thing that excites me most is that our staff can dedicate their time to helping visitors. “They aren’t tied up re-shelving, filing and categorising. They spend most of their time providing one-on-one instruction with visitors, teaching people how to use devices and how to source materials. It’s a more interactive library experience,” she told the newspaper. Replacement costs have also been factored in to the project. To prevent thefts, devices cannot access the internet once they leave the library. “For the taxpayer, it’s far more economical to build and maintain an elibrary,” Dr Robert Schwarzwalder, an associate university librarian for the science and engineering department at Stanford University. “Traditional libraries require much larger load-tolerances in construction due to the weight of materials, so are more costly to build. Book collections also require environmental controls that are costly to maintain,” he added. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff who instigated the scheme is an avid reader and a keen collector of first edition texts, but told ABC News: “the world is changing and this is the best, most effective way to bring services to our community.”
Chris Christie Returns to High School

Washington Week: Focus on Obama's Executive Authority
Wall Street suffers worst drop since June after weak data
Afghanistan not to be abandoned: US
Pajhwok Report
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Senate of Pakistan adopts Resolution regarding dual nationality of Judges
The Senate today unanimously adopted Resolution moved by Senator Farhatullah Babar calling upon the government to drastically amend the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and to make it consistent with the constitutionally guaranteed right to information, fair trial and fundamental rights. Speaking on the resolution the Senator said that information is withheld even from the Parliament on the ground of it being secret or confidential without laying down any guidelines as to who classifies a document as secret and how. Pointing out its out dated nature he said that Section 4 dealing with communication with foreign agents to be evidence of certain offences says that “a person may be presumed to have been in communication with a foreign agent if he has, either within or without Pakistan visited the address of a foreign agent or consorted or associated with a foreign agent, or either within or without Pakistan, the name or address of or any other information regarding a foreign has been found in his possession, or has been obtained by him from any other person”. The expression ‘foreign agent’ he said includes “any person who is or has been or in respect of whom it appears that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting him of being or having been employed by a foreign power either directly or indirectly”. Thus if a visiting card of a foreign diplomat or businessman is found in the possession of anyone and about whom the government may allege that the diplomat or businessman had sometime in the past been ‘an agent’ of a foreign power the person from whose possession the visiting card has been found would be liable to be prosecuted and declared guilty of associating with an enemy agent. He said that in India recently a review of the Secrets Act has been undertaken and the government of Pakistan must also review the outdated Act and bring amendments to it before the Parliament. The House unanimously adopted the resolution. Earlier speaking on a motion moved by Dr Karim Khwaja for a Constitution court Farhatullah Babar said that for the past few years a new doctrine was being propounded according to which the Constitution, and not the Parliament, was supreme and that the Constitution was what the SC said. This formulation of the constitutional doctrine can have profound implications for other state institutions in the event of a disagreement between the courts and the other institutions. He said that in such an event there is a possibility of a constitutional interpretation that might seem to favor courts in relation to other state institutions and thereby tilt the balance in a way not envisaged in the constitutional chem of things. In such a situation he said it is imperative that we have a separate constitution court to address and resolve constitutional matters only and is not mandated to perform other functions of the SC. In some other countries he said the constitution courts existed and Pakistan should also consider setting it up in line with the provisions of charter of democracy signed in 2006 between Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif. He said that at the time of the 18th amendment it was the PML-N which suggested that its consideration be postponed till a later date. Now is the time for the government to take it up with other parties as well and give the proposal a serious thought, he said. The House today also unanimously adopted the resolution moved by Senator Farhatullah Babar calling upon the government to publish the names of those judges of the superior judiciary who have dual nationality. The resolution has been on the agenda of the house for the past several months as the names of judges with dual nationality were not provided to the Senate even when questions were repeatedly asked in the House in this regard.http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Pakistan: 'Why No Action Against Lashkaray Jhangvee?'
shiapost.comLashkaray Jhangvee, a Terror outfit of Deobandi Sect of Islam that was established in 1990s by Haqq Nawaz Jhangvee in District Jhang Punjab, with an aim of eradicating Shiites(another sect of Islam) from Pakistan. What then, they started their activities by targeted killings of key Shia Clergies in and around Punjab that slowly and steadily reached the port city of Karachi till late 90s. LeJ was also used in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and by USE I mean that the Pakistani military establishment took them to both the areas mentioned. Where they killed scores of people and served as free mercenaries for forwarding the agendas set. And all this did not happen in haste, LeJ is a gift for the Shias of Pakistan who in 1985 defied the radical steps of the then military dictator Zia ul Haq, Zia introduced a must payment of Zakat for all Pakistanis to which the Shias reacted and started demonstrations, followed by the exemption to their name. But none knew how military establishment would answer to this, and it was the very time when an artificial voice was raised for imposition of Caliphate in the country, and for this matter Anjumanay Sipahey Sahaba( Army of Prophet’s Companions) was brought forth that started political and militant activities to harass and threaten especially the Shias who had resisted imposition of Zakat on them. By the way transition of Anjumanay Sipahe Sahaba(ASS) from Punjab to the rest of the country is an interesting case in itself. It was directly moved to Karachi, for the fears of economic loss due to consistent killings in Punjab, “and as the new millennium started the battle ground was moved to Quetta, Balochistan”. Balochistan makes almost 43% of the total area of Pakistan, mainly habitant of Baloch and Pashtun with Hazaras mainly living in the provincial capital Quetta. Balochistan, as per the opinion put forward by Baloch, did not become part of Pakistan with the consent of the people of the area rather Pakistan army took over through its operations. While books on Pakistan Studies or Pakistan Affairs say something else, but fact of the matter is that since its establishment the relations of Pakistan with the Baloch have not been an ideal one.
Baloch in their very nature are secular, but the game that establishment played this time (starting in Gen. Musharraf regime in 2000s) was the most difficult to cope with for the Baloch separatists. Lashkaray Jhangvee (establishment’s child) again came to the help of the Ideological Homeland, and this time its task was to change Baloch separatism notorious. And Hazaras’ role was that of the scapegoat, LeJ by design started targeting Hazaras in Baloch dominant areas of Quetta. Not only that but also the key players of LeJ came up to the screen with the names of their tribes following them, obfuscating the true aim of targeting Hazaras, as Punjabis were targeted by Balochistan Liberation Army, it became difficult earlier on as to what could be the true excuse for the execution of Hazaras. But time and the events that followed made it clear for those who could read between the lines, that LeJ once again served the “Land of the Pures” voluntarily, that helped it quench its thirst for blood too. Lashkaray Jhangvee is almost a Brigade or for that matter a Special Unit, just like US Navy Seals, that knows no laws or ethics while operating. Every big act of BLA is followed by a brutal terror attack of LeJ on Hazaras. And Pakistan forwards a memo to the United Nations naming unrest in Balochistan nothing more than a religious or sectarian conflict. That is the reason why after all Pakistan protests against LeJ could not make the govt take action against LeJ, last year on Jan 10, 2013, Hazaras were guaranteed of an action against LeJ but later on Baloch separatists were hunted and killed. Why would government go against it baby, or right hand, that fulfillsCovert Objectives with such boldness? It was the only reason in consideration that I tried to convey to my people when again on 22nd Jan 2014 they decided for a sit-in following a deadly suicide attack on a bus carrying pilgrims from Iran, I told them it is useless to demonstrate as Establishment will not allow government to act against LeJ hideouts in and around Quetta city. State terrorism everywhere in the world is the result of running a State as an End, either comply by what is being said or ordered or be ready for getting killed. LeJ has proved itself to be an asset for the establishment, and anyone asking for an action is be-fooling himself.
Pakistan: ISI threatens peaceful Baloch marchers to suspend their long march to Islamabad
http://balochwarna.com/xnewsThe Voice for Baloch Missing Persons Long March ended their 39th day of walked on Monday 15 Kilometre away from Rajanpur. Despite many obstacles the marchers were determined to continue their journey to reached Islamabad. Four members of ISI stopped the march near Rajanpur and tried to pressurise them to abandon their walk but the leaders of march insisted that they will continue the march to reach Islamabad. The VBMP long march leaders said they their protest is peaceful and democratic but the intelligence agencies were threatening them to end the walk for justice. Qadeer Baloch in a video message said: “I am chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons. I would like to [inform] and request all Human Rights Organisations including United Nations, Amnesty International, Asian Human Rights and Human Rights Watch that today four person of [Pakistan] intelligence agencies stopped our march 15 kilometres away from Rajanpur. They were four personnel of ISI, they armed in plainclothes and they were armed.” He added: “They stopped us and asked us to suspend the march otherwise we (ISI) can do anything with you. They spoke with me for half hours and constantly threatened me. At present my life is in extreme danger because the government of Punjab is not providing security to me.” He said he was “very distressed but I will continue the long march to Punjab at all cost. I will not suspend the march. They asked me to go back but I will not go back.” He urged the Baloch nation and Baloch parties to strongly protest against the Punjab government for not providing security to Baloch marchers most of whom are women and children. The VBMP started their march from Quetta on 27 October 2013 and reached to Karachi after 27 days. One 13 December 2013 they started the second phase of march from Karachi to Islamabad and have walked for 39 days so far. The VBMP is marching against military operation, enforced-disappearances and murder of Baloch activists by Pakistani forces in Balochistan.
Pakistan: TTP’s gambit ( little chance for peace )

With all these agents of chaos let loose there is little chance for peaceThe selection of the TTP’s committee for talks once again indicates that the terrorist network is as crafty as it is lethal. Well aware of the dynamics of Pakistan’s politics it has nominated three leaders belonging to religious parties, one from a mainstream party and a cleric known for his extremist views. They all have a soft corner for the militants. Despite their bitter mutual rivalries the JI, JUI-F and JUI-S are united on the issue of Sharia along with Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Majid fame. The three religious parties which were sidelined by the electorate would now be suddenly in the limelight after the TTP move. During the talks with the government’s team they would compete with one another to gain the maximum space for the terrorist network in return for allowing them to operate peacefully. The government had wanted its committee to focus on ending the terrorist attacks. It is instead being invited to play on Taliban’s turf. With the government accepting the offer, the focus of the two committees would be on fixing the timetable for the enforcement of Sharia. The TTP would meanwhile gain time to overcome its weaknesses and to concentrate on the implementation of its strategy of terror. Imran Khan has declined to accept the offer by the TTP. It would however suit him to make use of any opportunity he finds to expose the government rather the TTP. Meanwhile, 15 prominent clerics of a particular school of thought have urged the government and Taliban to announce a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in the country. Instead of holding the TTP responsible for bomb blasts and suicide attacks that have killed thousands of innocent citizens, and telling it to stop the gruesome game, they have put the lawbreakers and law enforcers in the same category thus helping the terrorist network. This shows the TTP is a step ahead of the government. What the government should have done was to rally the support of those religious leaders who have always called a terrorist a terrorist in spite of attacks and threats of further violence. At a time when the entire parliament, with the exception of a mini minority, was willing to support action against the terrorists, Sharif agreed to treat them as a party, providing the proscribed network a measure of respectability. Thanks the PML-N government a number of terrorist leaders who had gone into hibernation are coming out into the open to continue their activities. Leader of JeM Masood Azhar has already delivered a telephonic address at a gathering of his followers in Muzaffarabad while Fazlur Rehman Khalil of Harkatul Mujideen is now appearing on TV talk shows. With all these agents of chaos let loose there is little chance for peace.
Pakistan: Taliban checkmate the govt


NEGOTIATION WITH TERRORIST OF BANNED ORGANISATION AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN

Pakistan: Negotiating with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Pakistan: The state and sociopaths
Aisha Sarwari
In 1878, the US passed the Ku Klux Klan Act, also known as the Third Force Act, to authorise President Ulysses S Grant to declare martial law, impose penalties against terrorist organisations and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The name of the Ku Klux Klan was derived from the Greek word ‘kyklos’, meaning ‘circle’. The KKK believed in racial superiority of the whites and in violence to further their plans to disenfranchise blacks. The Klan evolved into a terrorist organisation that brought mayhem, fear and chaos. They were responsible for thousands of deaths: they lynched mobbed blacks, burned down black churches, raped women, murdered civil rights workers, murdered children and terrorised communities for over a century. They whipped freedmen’s schools’ teachers and burnt their schools. Their signature trait would be to form a circle around their target before they would destroy it. Many spiritualists believe that to kill something you form a circle around it. The worst thing that you can do to societies is to form them in closed circles, surround them with people who have the same beliefs and to congregate them around the same reinforcing ideas — week after week — because eventually those societies will wither away. Circles are very powerful. Even more powerful can be those who want to break the destructive powers using the state’s will. Ulysses S Grant won office with the slogan, ‘let us have peace’ and categorically named the enemy, the KKK, and eventually brought it down. When it comes to our version of sociopaths, the Taliban, the government is waiting for the century to turn it seems, waiting for the blood to spill red perhaps. It seems to not be enough that in the Mastung blast a week ago, a bus full of pilgrims was blown up. The Shia Hazara victims — men, women and children — were easily identifiable and defenceless. It seems to not be enough that a young boy named Aitzaz Hasan gave up his life trying to protect his schoolmates from a suicide bomber in Khyber Pakhtnkhwa. And how do we react? We choose to focus, instead, on preventing young minds from being ‘corrupted’ by the book I am Malala. We are fearful instead of ideas in that book. We are rewarding the mind that survived the Taliban’s bullet by closing our doors on it. While we misplace our fears and priorities, the Taliban’s recent attack is on the Pakistani media. In an attempt to muzzle it, they have released a list of names of journalists they will target. To begin with, the media was already controlled by the Taliban. Knowing that the Taliban were watching, the tone, agenda-setting and the representation was largely something that sought their acceptance. The media even went ahead to air appeals from the Taliban itself. However, there were exceptions to this grovelling. There was an elite group of news reporters, anchors, opinion makers and thought leaders who cared to distribute information based on what the person in the voting booth needs to know; to inform people that their country is not the chosen one, but far from it if the indicators were to be believed and to hold elected officials accountable to their actions and comments. These veterans were not dictated by advertisements that push for infotainment — they truly cared about serving as the fifth pillar of the state no matter how nascent the media industry is. It is these people who are mostly on the list. These people strengthened democracy at a time when we are just learning to stand up, our knees weary. It is the bolstering of democracy that the Taliban are deathly afraid of. It is the very instrument that can be used to exorcise the demons of bigotry, supremacy and the perversely destructive power that comes from it. The narrative of Islam as a peaceful religion has been hijacked, tragically, in an irreversible manner because we have let the barbarians claim it instead of the Sufis. Probably also because those with the will to die to promote savagery outnumber those that want peace, 1,000 to one. When Salmaan Taseer was murdered, the state showed new depths of weakness and, as a result, thousands more embraced cynicism. The circle grew. The state needs to protect itself. Self-interest is the greatest morality. Rather than play to the narrative the Taliban furnish — of fairy tales — the state needs to stand up for its children. There can be no waiting when our posterity is attacked. In Hangu, on January 26, 2014, six children were killed while they played in their playground. If those in power — politicians and military generals (who have spent most of their lives serving blue prints of housing societies) — think that their own children will be spared if they wait, buy time and do not act, they are wrong. More dangerous than their children under threat would be their children hated by thousands of country people who themselves get tossed onto madmen’s whims to save those who are considered more supreme. The mothers of the children who have been killed by the Taliban will form a more powerful circle around the necks of those who did this to them, and those who watched and did not act when they could.The media was already controlled by the Taliban. Knowing that the Taliban were watching, the tone, agenda-setting and the representation was largely something that sought their acceptance. The media even went ahead to air appeals from the Taliban itself
The Apathy Toward Balochistan

The dangers in Pakistan, Afghanistan
chicagotribune.comPresident Barack Obama barely touched on the Afghanistan war in his State of the Union address last week. He didn't even mention Pakistan, where Taliban terrorists are on the attack again. We don't blame him: •Last November, a U.S. drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the brutal Pakistani Taliban leader who led a network blamed for the deaths of thousands of Pakistani civilians in suicide bombings. That devastating blow offered Pakistan's leaders a prime opportunity to roll up even more Taliban commanders, to take the offensive in a fight that has raged for years. Instead, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif suspended counterterrorist operations against Taliban militants and sought to negotiate a deal to end the insurgency. Sharif agreed to allow the new Taliban leader, Maulana Fazlullah, time to consolidate his leadership over several Taliban factions, in hopes that Fazlullah would come to the negotiation table with greater political clout. Never mind that such truces have failed over and over in the past decade. What happened? Exactly what you'd expect. Fazlullah exploited the government lull to regroup and rearm. In recent weeks he has launched a major new offensive in three major cities, killing scores of people. The Taliban have attacked the major southern port city of Karachi, a hub of Pakistan's economy. Among those killed: Karachi's top counterterrorism police officer. Sharif took office last May. He ran a campaign "that deliberately ignored the Pakistani Taliban, and tacitly has sent the message that cooperation with the U.S. should be limited," Anthony Cordesman, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told The Wall Street Journal. The results are depressingly familiar. Sharif has learned the same lesson as previous Pakistan leaders: The Taliban have no interest in negotiating or sharing power. They're terrorists who target civilians. They must be defeated. •The Taliban resurgence in Pakistan also looms as a threat to neighboring Afghanistan. Most U.S. troops are set to leave Afghanistan by the end of the year. In last week's speech, Obama repeated his pledge to deploy a robust residual U.S. force to mount counterterrorism operations and train Afghan security forces. All of that hinges on a security agreement negotiated last year by the U.S. and Afghanistan, but still unsigned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Karzai says he won't sign unless he gets more concessions from the U.S. Obama says the deal's done, take it or leave it. The U.S. has recently raised again the prospect of a "zero option," yanking all troops. The prospects of breaking this stalemate before Karzai leaves office after elections, slated for April: Nil. There's plenty of speculation about Karzai's mental state and motivation. Maybe he wants to cut a better deal. Maybe he just wants to leave office with a flourish, bragging to his fellow countrymen that he stood up to the U.S. Either way, Karzai "has really gone from maddeningly unpredictable to dangerously erratic," White House adviser John Podesta told NPR late last year. The latest outrage: An Afghan-led prisoner review board recently ordered the release from detention of 37 insurgents, some of whom are accused of attacking U.S. troops. That was a direct thumb in the eye to Washington. Astonishingly, Karzai now blames the U.S. for insurgent-style attacks to undermine his government, The Washington Post reports. He has compiled "a list of dozens of attacks that he believes the U.S. government may have been involved in," a palace official told the Post. Whew. Dangerously erratic and a delusional conspiracy theorist. The best U.S. option is, as much as possible, to ignore Karzai's ranting. He's a lame duck. There will be a new Afghan president soon. The major presidential candidates have indicated they would sign the agreement. There's still plenty of time to sign a deal and keep a robust force of Americans in Afghanistan. That's still vital for anti-terrorism operations. If the U.S pulled all its forces from Afghanistan, drone bases in that country would likely have to be closed. That would cripple efforts to strike al-Qaida and Taliban targets across a wide swath of mountainous territory on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It would let terrorists regroup and rearm with impunity. That's why American forces must continue to target terror leaders and demolish safe havens in those countries. It's frustrating that the U.S. still can't depend on Pakistan or Afghanistan to be reliable partners.
Pakistan Lowari: Frozen travellers trapped by an unfinished tunnel
By M Ilyas Khan

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